Open Mic @ MU

If you'd told me a couple years ago that I'd spend a rare bachelor Saturday driving my girlfriend and her dog to Columbia for a poetry seminar and open mic; devote the seminar part of that day trying to find bargains on wool socks, balaclavas and ski mittens to facilitate cold weather cycling...

Or, for that matter, that I'd be mad I hadn't brought my own bike and some good riding gear so I could take off on Columbia's copious bike lanes despite the cold.



I struck out, for the most part, on the gear shopping. Play It Again Sports scoffed at the idea of even trying to handle gear like what I wanted.



Walt's had cool touring bikes, including the Trek Transport (if my bike is a pig, this thing is an elephant with a Howdah. There were expensive balaclavas to be had, but none that seemed worth the money; the closest thing to mittens was the Pearl Izumi 'Lobster Claw.'

This last would be something I'd buy for the novelty alone if it were cheap, but at $70, it's more than double what I'd consider paying for the absolute perfect thing (I seek mittens, which would keep my four fingers together; the lobster claw design is like a mitten designed to facilitate Vulcan blessings and Mork handshakes).



Anyway, after Walt's came the Alpine Shop where I did buy a pair of Smartwool socks on sale, but apparently mittens are out of fashion on the slopes, too. I also failed to find what I wanted (even without considering my cost constraints) at Bass Pro and Dick's before the day was over.



I did manage to find what I thought was an amusing sign, especially with Food Inc. fresh in my mind.



I served as a judge on the poetry contest, and was glad my relative inexperience was balanced by being part of a large-ish panel. I understood the criteria differently than the other judges in the content category, though, and since we declared our scores I found myself in a roughly Simon Cowell role. Actually, the poem that started me in that direction was my favorite of the afternoon, I just didn't see where it fit, content-wise. Like when I've judged beers that were entered in the wrong category, the score didn't reflect my taste. OOshene Fox ended up taking the top prize anyway, and she earned it.



I had fun trying documenting everything, though I used Corinna's camera for the video. I didn't quite get the shot I wanted of the featured poet, Kiara Lanier, with her yellow MacBook and its decals, but almost.



So anyway, if you'd told me a couple years ago I'd have a Saturday like this, I wouldn't have believed it. And if you told me I'd thing it was a great day, then I'd know you were out of your tree.